


After Eleven

by melfics (orphan_account)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7764712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/melfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They looked different, and they were different. But Mike was still the same. Because Eleven was still gone, nearly three years later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nearly Three Years Later

Fifteen.

He was fifteen, almost sixteen, and his hair was the same as it had been. His face was more defined, though, and his cheekbones actually stuck out in stark contrast with his nose. His lips were fuller, not so thin, and he was still skinny, but he was tall, now, too. Dustin always complained that he was too tall, and so was Lucas- he and Will were still little things; compared to the boys in their grade, anyway.

His teeth finally came in, and his hair hung as loose and low and curly as ever. Lucas’ was on the verge of an afro, and he and Mike were always begging him to chop it, but Will seemed to like it. Admire it, almost. He admired Lucas, anyway. 

They all looked different, but Mike was the only one who hadn’t changed despite his height. Lucas got charming and became a Hawkins sensation. Not that he ever hung out with anyone else, really, but everyone wanted to hang out with him. He played it off like he cared about the jocks and the girls who draped themselves over him but, in their basements, their bedrooms- his attention was reserved for Will. And Mike, of course, and Dustin, but mostly Will. And Will, a wallflower, basked in the whispers about him and drew dark things. Beautiful things, too. He became an artist. 

Dustin got a girlfriend- Stace- and drove. He was the first to get his license, and Lucas and Will begged him for rides when they weren’t in Mike’s basement, when they wanted to be high school boys and do high school things- but Mike just wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons.

“Come on, man, come to the movies with us,” Lucas would plead with Mike, who would sit at the card table and feign a headache or fatigue or whatever to get out of going wherever they were going. They all had people to go with- Dustin and Stace, Lucas and Will- and he was awkward, anyway. He didn’t like doing things if he could help it. Things that didn’t involve bike rides or board games; things that were different.

“No,” he said. “You go on ahead. I’m just going to get started on my homework.”

“But it’s Friday.”

“Just go, okay?”

“Mike,” Lucas sighed, looking helplessly at Dustin. Will was often left out of these conversations, not understanding just the complex dynamic of Mike and El’s relationship. The one that made it so hard for him to wake up to an empty basement and the smell of toasted waffles. The one that, really, just made him less excitable. When she left, she took his enthusiasm with her. That was how Dustin always phrased it, anyway.

That wasn’t to say that he was just one big moping mess. He still hosted their D&D campaigns, and he became surface-level friends with boys and girls in his science classes. He smiled, and he was happy. Content, at the very least. Because he could be. He had the best friends and decent grades and his life was good again. But he missed her sometimes- always, but sometimes so hard that he had to be by himself for a few hours or even days- and that made it hard to be happy all the time.

Lucas and Dustin didn’t understand, because they missed her in a different way than he did. He wasn’t sure how, but it was different. It was like they had moved on with their lives, missing her on the back burner, and Mike was still grieving over a girl he’d known for a week. Life just… went, for him, but it flew for them. He didn’t get it, but it just was.

Maybe it was because she kept stealing his dreams, crawling in through their windows like everything was the same. Because, in his sleep, she kept begging him to wait.

For what, he didn’t know.

And he wouldn’t know until his sixteenth birthday.

Nearly three years since she'd been gone.


	2. Grease

“But, Mr. Schauer, I specifically requested tomorrow off. See, it’s my birthday-”

“And I feel badly, Mike,” his manager shrugged, hardly stopping to give him a sympathetic look. He slipped past the swinging door and into the customer service office. Mike met him at the counter. “But there’s no one to cover your shift.”

“I requested off _months_ ago-”

“And so did everyone else. They must have beaten you to the punch. I’m sorry.”

Mike let out a heavy breath. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Mr. Schauer.”

He left for the coat room to trade his apron for his blue jacket and, by the time he emerged, Mr. Schauer was already preoccupied with a customer in a frenzy, wondering why she was being charged ten dollars for a gallon of milk and a carton of eggs.

“I’m sure it’s just a mix-up,” he assured her, smiling widely and reaching for her receipt as Mike left the store, the headache of high-pitched item scanners and trolling customers, behind him.

“Lucas, it’s Mike. Do you copy? Over,” he spoke, balancing the walkie-talkie between the handlebars of his bike. He was pedaling fast toward home.

“Yeah, I copy. Over,” Lucas’ voice rang out like static in the crisp November air, which bit Mike’s lips, chapped them. He licked them in an attempt to keep them moisturized.

“I’m scheduled tomorrow. Can you and Will come over tonight instead? Over.”

“Mike, we would, but it’s Saturday night. We’re meeting Dustin and Stace at the arcade. Hey, why don’t you come with us? Over.”

“No, that’s okay. O-”

“No, Mike- come with us. In twelve hours, you’re going to be bagging old ladies’ groceries. On your birthday. So- just- have some fun until then. Okay? Meet us there at eight. Over and out.”

“Lucas- damn it.”

He kicked harder at the pedals until he made it home, dropping his bike on the front lawn and tripping over his long legs, twisting them like pretzels. His stubborn key took a minute to unlock the door, but then he was stumbling inside and slamming it shut.

“Mom, Dad, I’m home,” he hollered, pounding up the stairs to his bedroom. There was a muffled acknowledgement from his mom in the kitchen when he settled into his bed, shuffling the covers around with his shins.

Two hours. He was supposed to meet the boys in two hours. He could get a good nap in in two hours, right?

Apparently not. Because two and a half hours later, Lucas was calling his name through the walkie-talkie, telling him to stop being a loser and get his ass over here.

“Sorry, Lucas, I fell asleep,” he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with his left fist. “I’ll meet you there in ten. Over and out.”

 

He stayed out until twelve, which he would come to regret in the morning, but- his friends were worth it. They bought him a cupcake from the bakery on High Street and Dustin won him a dumb stuffed animal. He named it Eleven, and, under his comforter, hugged it into the next morning.

 

He was finally sixteen, finally old enough to be able to drive himself around, and he was celebrating by stacking bread on top of eggs, _and stuff the chips in there if you can. Frozen items go in a paper bag. Oh, and don’t forget to thank the customer on their way out_ , Schauer’s voice repeated itself like a mantra between Mike’s two ears.

He loaded a final paper bag into some lady’s cart. “Thank you for shopping with us,” he tried to grin.

“Thank _you_ for your service,” she smiled, thin-lipped but kind. She nodded her head and went on her way.

“Mike!” Schauer hollered. Mike looked over. There were customers at his elbows, begging for attention, and he pointed to a girl at the exit. “Help me out, here. Girl is trying to steal-” he started, but Mike was already taking long strides toward her.

“Hey,” he tried as the sliding doors shut behind her. They opened up again for him. “Hey!”

She turned around. Her hair met her shoulders, was just longer than Dustin’s. She was so pale, and her eyebrows were kind of wild. He brought his own together.

“You- you have to- you have to pay for those.”

He was hallucinating. He was going to faint. His eyes smeared and, when he started to sway, she steadied him with a single word.

“Mike?”

It felt too real to be a dream. His eyes were too wet and the yellow of the box of frozen waffles too bright, his skin too sticky with sweat and uniform heavy on his shoulders. But it seemed too surreal to be, well, real. The concept was- bizarre, that Eleven could be there, right there, in front of him. Standing and staring.

“El?”

She nodded her head, sniffed real loud. “I’m at Hopper’s.”

“What? I- give me two minutes, I gotta clock out. I’ll tell Schauer it’s a family emergency- which, well, it kind of is. Just- wait for me, okay? I’ll be right-”

“Go, Mike. I’ll wait.”

He slammed a dollar on the customer service counter, apologized profusely to Schauer, and ran. Ran like he wasn’t sure she’d still be there.

She was.

She looked at him with wide eyes, crossed one Converse-clad foot over the other, and shook a little bit.

“Mike,” she said again, lip quivering. The sight broke his heart, just cracked and shattered it. Split it open. He reached for her and she, stiffly, let him hug her.

“You’re tall,” she laughed despite her tears when he let her go.

“Your hair is long,” he said. She nodded.

“Can we go somewhere?”

“Anywhere.”

She nodded again, and wiped her eyes on her arm. When she was ready, he offered her his hand, and they walked all the way to his house and into his basement.

“Damn it, El,” his voice broke. He slammed the door behind them. “I missed you-”

She reached for his striped tee, bunched it up with her palm, and pressed him up against the door.

“I watched a movie,” she breathed, and he felt it on his chin. “At Hopper’s. Grease. This was how they-” she struggled to find the word she was looking for. His eyes darted, not sure whether to settle on her lips, which were sounding out words, or her eyes on his.

He met her eyes and she, sure she had his attention, tackled his mouth with her lips, kissing him just as quickly as he had her in the cafeteria. Harder, though. And for longer. They moved together for close to a minute, until they ran out of shared breath between them.

Taking a step back and drawing a sharp breath, she tried again. “That was how they-”

“Kissed,” he said.

“Kissed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of loving writing this? Let me know what you think! What you want to read, etc.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on making coming chapters longer, hopefully much longer, but please comment & review! I'd love to hear from you guys what you like, what you want to see, and ultimately whether I should continue this fic. Your feedback is literally my fuel. Thx xx


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